HUNTINGTON BEACH : Tougher Hate Crime Punishment Urged
A group of black students at Huntington Beach High School urged Assemblywoman Doris Allen (R-Cypress) on Tuesday to tighten state laws to make hate crimes on school campuses punishable by suspension or expulsion.
The students, with Principal James Staunton and social studies teacher Jeff Button, worked together to draft a resolution to hand to Allen when she spoke at Button’s class, which is studying race relations.
The resolution urged Allen to work for changes that would require principals to take stern measures in racially related incidents. The resolution called for expulsion in “extreme cases of racial harassment.”
Staunton said the education code currently fails to deal with punishment for race-related crimes.
“Any school climate that is permissive to racial crimes is hostile to the needs of students of minority backgrounds,” the resolution read. “That type of environment is incompatible with the nature and intentions of the public school system.”
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